Bliss

Have you ever read or heard something that you felt was somehow written just for you to help you through something? I just read a post on another blog about writing that spoke to me on so many levels. Of course I know that post wasn’t actually written for me but still I felt like the author was in my head, reading my thoughts and giving me her opinion. It was a tiny bit creepy but cool at the same time.

I mentioned about ten days ago that I am going to my first writer’s conference at the end of March. At the conference I am supposed to have the opportunity to pitch my writing. The thing that hasn’t been clear to me as of yet is whether I can pitch more than one book. I’m hoping to find out really soon because this is an important detail to me. The reason being, I have two books that I feel are really strong contenders at this time. They still need a little bit of polishing and I am currently working on that. If I can pitch both of them then no problem. Well, there is the detail about needing to have them both as perfect as possible and ready to go but that definitely is not a bad thing. What I have been in my head about – and mentally driving myself a bit crazy as I go back and forth and back again – is which manuscript do I take along if I can only pitch one story? The thing is I love both of them. I mean I seriously LOVE both of them and am really amazed that both of these books came from me. I followed my heart and I went with my personal bliss in writing these books. So if I can only take one I have a feeling I’m going to feel bad about not taking the other. It’s kind of silly, I know, but it’s still true.

One book, and the one I wrote first, is set in a small town and has a lot of the quirks and somewhat eccentric characters you might expect in such a story. This is the book that kick started my series. I’ve written before about never intending to write a serial but this first book had secondary characters who wanted their own stories and I felt the need to write them. I am nearly done with the revision process of this book and still adore these characters as much as I did when I first wrote them. I may even like this book more now.

The second book I really want to take along to the conference with me is a story about a married couple and their family. I love romance stories. I must since that is mainly what I write. However, I often find myself wanting more once the couple has figured out they do indeed want a lifetime together. I want to know what happens after the ‘happily ever after’. I know for a fact that this is part of why I love J.D. Robb’s In Death series so much. I get to read a little bit about Eve and Roarke’s ‘ever after’ with each installment in the series. Anyway, my book is about a couple who have been married for some time but they’ve drifted apart a bit and there are some problems that need addressing but neither wants to bring them up. They know they need to in order to stay strong but how do they do that? I’m incredibly proud of this book, too.

I follow my bliss every day when I write. I followed my bliss with these two books by writing what I would like to read. I’m proud of these stories and would like to share them with others that would like them, as well. Hopefully I can take both books with me to the conference. I’ll let you know how this turns out.